By Tom Weber, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – Election officials in Jefferson County are working to verify the results of yesterday's four-way race for State Senate.
Republican Bill Alter finished just 66 votes ahead of Democrat Rick Johnson out of more than 20-thousand ballots cast.
The Jefferson County Clerk's office now must check a sample of ballots by machine and by hand. That's standard procedure no matter how close a race.
If he wants Johnson would have to ask for a recount after the state certifies the results. But because he finished with one percent of Alter that recount would be guaranteed.
This was the first time Jefferson County voters used optical scan ballots.
And Johnson notes the computer counted 189 ballots where no one voted in the Senate race.
"Sometimes it rejects ballots because the bubble wasn't fully filled in and so on and so forth," he said. "So, we'll just have to wait and see."
But Alter says the machines are too reliable to be 66 votes off.